LC 6223 
.M7 
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InitoetiSitp of CJbicaoo 

f EXTENSION DIVISION 
E-STUDY DEPARTMENT 
Tract No. 2 



THE LOCAL SECRETARY 



BY JESSIE DOUGLAS MONTGOMERY 

HONORARY SECRETARY, EXETER CENTRE 
ENGLAND 






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THE LOCAL SECRETARY.* 



By Jessie Douglas Montgomery, Honorary Secretary, 

Exeter Centre, England. 



I do not propose to discuss whether it is better that a Local 
Secretary should be a man or a woman ; it is rather a question 
of character than sex. But it is usually easier to find a woman 
with the requisite leisure ; and personally I think a woman's 
training should give the quick sympathy and ready tact which 
are fundamental necessities. 

For the sake of clearness, I propose to discuss briefly the 
threefold relation of the Secretary to the committee, the general 
public, the students. But before doing this, may I touch on 
one or two primary requisites? 

Undoubtedly considerable leisure is necessary. Let no 
one be deceived into imagining that the mere clerical work of 
a clerk exhausts the claims of the position. At present, this 
has to be done by the Secretary ; but it is the least important 
part of the work ; and we look forward to a time when paid 
help may be forthcoming for mechanical routine work, sending 
out notices, inserting advertisements, keeping accounts, etc.; 
so that the Secretary may be free to devote more time to the 
personal work which lies at the root of our failure or success. 
The first condition for a successful centre is esprit de corps. 
It ranks far above money, for it will do much to raise money ; 
and above intellectual capacity, for it will tend to raise the 
general level by putting the mental equipment of the most 

* Reprinted from the University Extension World, February, 1893. 



4 THE LOCAL SECRETARY 

cultivated at the service of the less trained. Now the Secre- 
tary should feel and be to a large extent the source of this 
esprit de corps. She (for the sake of simplicity I shall use the 
feminine pronoun) is the connecting link between the commit- 
tee and the outside public and the inner circle of bona fide 
students, and she should strive to promote social intercourse 
and kindliness among students. From this point of view it is 
well if the Secretary be a person of some influence, either by 
reason of age, talent, position or character. 

The ideal Secretary would be a happy combination of zeal 
and discretion, not easily disheartened, but capable on occa- 
sion of "making haste slowly." She must be a bit of an 
enthusiast ; she must have wide sympathies ; she should have 
a fairly varied experience of life ; imagination and a kindly 
sense of humor would be a great help in her work ; but above 
and beyond all, she must have moral earnestness. She must 
regard her work not only as a means of providing innocent or 
elevating recreation, but as an instrument for training and 
developing character ; she must recognize that the aim of our ■ 
movement is to broaden the basis of sympathy, to open out a 
wider horizon, to lift men and women out of pettiness and 
vacuity, and ceaseless striving after money and position, to a 
fuller possession of their better selves, and a nobler striving 
after a fairer, juster, more charitable view of life. 

A Secretary should have, or take pains to acquire, business- 
like habits. Letters should be promptly answered; information 
readily and clearly given ; accounts accurately kept. These 
things seem prosaic after the moral qualities just mentioned ; 
but they are most necessary, and are not always found in con- 
junction with the essential enthusiasm. Happily, however, 
they can be acquired ; and anyone who undertakes secretarial 
work, should set herself at once to work with a determined will 
to acquire them ; and once acquired, she will have lifelong 
cause to bless the movement which supplied her with such 
useful discipline. 



THE LOCAL SECRETARY 5 

Now to turn to details : 
I. The Secretary in Relation to the Committee. 

It is essential that a committee should be representative 
and influential in different circles ; this almost necessarily 
implies that the members will be busy people, who will not 
have much time to make themselves acquainted with all the 
many details of the work. Therefore, the Secretary's duty is 
to keep the committee well informed, not only on local affairs, 
but of the general progress of the movement in the district and 
country, wherever it bears on local affairs, and also as a means 
of maintaining a belief in its efficacy. This implies that the 
Secretary should read all the literature she can get hold of on 
the subject. I have found it very useful to subscribe to a Press 
Cutting Agency which sends extracts from magazines and 
newspapers. A committee will sometimes be startled at some 
new proposal, and will be reassured by hearing the experiment 
has been tried with success in other places. Moreover, we are 
all stirred to a generous emulation by hearing of each other's 
successes ; or we may be warned by each other's failures. 

There is room for the exercise of a good deal of tact as to 
the points which the Secretary may decide on her own respon- 
sibility, and those where she should seek the advice and sup- 
port of the committee. The two extremes are to be avoided. 
It is very irritating to busy people to be called together on 
some trivial pretext ; but I think it is more dangerous to run 
any risk of appearing to act in a high-handed manner. 

In starting, a prudent Secretary will feel her way very 
cautiously, and by exercising a little forethought can often 
bring up points for discussion before they actually come to a 
head, and so minimize the number of meetings. As cordial 
and confidential relations grow up out of better acquaintance, 
probably details will pass more and more into the Secretary's 
hands, but she cannot be too careful to consult her committee 
on what I may call all constitutional questions. She must 



O THE LOCAL SECRETARY 

never decide on a matter of principle ; if she is careful on this 
point she will probably be trusted to apply the principle for 
herself. In cases of doubt, where yet the occasion hardly 
warrants the calling a meeting, it is often useful to consult 
the chairman, and get his sanction, and then at the next meet- 
ing the matter should be clearly explained so as to avoid any 
appearance of arbitrary conduct. 

But the Secretary must not unduly shrink from responsi- 
bility. In any difficulty, she has probably the best means of 
ascertaining possible solutions, and before calling the com- 
mittee she should have a definite policy to propose, supported 
by facts and reasons. To call together busy people, and pour 
out before them difficulties which they have probably not seen 
growing up, and which come on them suddenly, without having 
any definite proposals to make, is weakly to throw on them a 
burden which should be borne by the Secretary, At the same 
time she must be ready to hear other proposals with perfect 
good temper and fair-mindedness, and should have given 
sufficient thought to the subject to be able to discuss them 
intelligently. Above all things, she must be obviously willing 
and anxious to give accurate account of her proceedings, and 
avoid the slightest appearance of wishing to keep back any- 
thing. 

It is very desirable, by every possible means, to keep the 
several members of the committee in personal touch with the 
work ; to this end, it is a good thing to ask different members 
to take the chair at lectures, or move votes of thanks, or pre- 
side at examinations ; the more persons we can draw in to 
take a personal share in the work, the wider will be the interest 
excited. 

2. The Secretary in Relation to the General Public. 

Here lies, perhaps, the widest sphere of action ; for the 
getting together of good audiences will at first, and probably 
always to a great extent, depend on personal exertion. 



THE LOCAL SECRETARY 7 

A Secretary must have her work always in her mind, so as 
to lose no possible opportunity of securing support. From 
personal friends she will solicit subscriptions, and make it 
clear to them that even if they are not personally interested, 
yet their financial assistance will benefit others. 

She will visit or write to the heads of all schools in the 
neighborhood, especially inviting the teachers of elementary 
schools, and asking their help in interesting former scholars. 

She will endeavor to enlist the sympathy of ministers of 
religion of all denominations, and will ask them to make 
known the work to all religious organizations. 

She will endeavor to interest employers of labor. Often, 
if it is suggested to them, heads of firms will purchase tickets 
and either give them away, or, which is, I think, even better, 
retail them to their men at a lower rate. I have found that 
employers and foremen are usually most kind in giving facil- 
ities for speaking to their men. Of course good sense and 
good manners will suggest that a Secretary has no right to 
stroll in and hinder men who are at work ; but a courteous 
application at headquarters, and an explanation of the end in 
view, generally leads to the desired opportunity being readily 
granted. 

How to reach and interest workingmen and women is our 
great problem in many parts of England. Probably in 
America, where a good system of secondary education has 
been at work, the ground is better prepared. My experience 
has been that we must use all existing Workmen's Associations 
to interest workingmen. After writing or calling on the Sec- 
retary of such associations, I have several times been invited 
to attend a meeting and address the members on our work. 
On several such occasions I have taken lantern views of our 
venerable and beautiful universities, and have given a short 
sketch of their democratic origin, and traced their history 
through the ages when they became the privilege of the few 
to the time when they awoke to their wider responsibilities to 



O THE LOCAL SECRETARY 

the nation at large ; and then I have given instances of some 
who have benefited, and read letters from others who have 
attended summer meetings and expressed their earnest grati- 
tude, and in this way often fresh adherents have been 
attracted. 

Everything that can be done to promote good fellowship is 
valuable. When people buy a ticket for one of our courses 
we wish them to feel it is not the same thing as buying a con- 
cert ticket, or one for any ordinary course of public lectures. 
Our ticket admits them to a definite relation with a university ; 
it makes them one of a body of persons bound together by a 
common interest, and partakers of a common benefit. For 
this reason, it is very useful if tickets can be sold by the Secre- 
tary. It introduces from the first an element of personal 
relationship. Whether verbally or by letter, we can always 
manage to insert a word of welcome, to try and make the pur- 
chaser feel that we have a mutual claim on each other's 
friendliness. In the same way, it is very advantageous if the 
Secretary can herself take tickets and money at the door. It 
will give an opportunity for making acquaintance, and to 
many lonely people the certainty of a hearty welcome and a 
few cheery words turns the scale in favor of going out on a 
cold wet night, or of overcoming the fatigue consequent on a 
day of hard work. And we can often secure fresh allies by 
asking individuals who are interested to exert themselves to 
bring others. 

Again, the Secretary should use every effort to secure the 
hearty cooperation of the press. A personal visit to editors, 
with a request for their assistance, generally meets with an 
encouraging response. And, at no long intervals, brief notes 
of the progress of our work should be sent to the papers, 
reports of meetings and lectures in all parts of the country 
may from time to time be furnished, and tickets for reporters, 
together with the syllabus of a new course, should invariably 
be sent to the local press. 



THE LOCAL SECRETARY 9 

It is also a good plan to furnish leading booksellers with 
an early list of books recommended for each course and with 
copies of the syllabus ; little acts of consideration of this kind 
help to popularize the movement in a town. 

Finally, always, so far as possible, take the public into 
your confidence, and assume, as a matter of course, that they 
are interested. At the end of one set of lectures, if possible, 
announce the subject of the next, and invite the audience to 
advertise it among their friends ; give out notices of any 
public meetings or social gatherings in connection with the 
movement ; have copies of reports, or magazines bearing on 
our work on sale in the lecture room ; announce results of the 
examination and the examiner's report ; in short, do everything 
that is possible to foster a spirit of self-respect in a centre, and 
to make the public feel they have a personal share in promot- 
ing its success. 

I have said nothing about public meetings, or social gath- 
erings : these are hardly included among the Secretary's 
duties, but they are very important, and probably the initiative, 
and a certain proportion of the arrangements, will fall to her. 
A public presentation of certificates arouses interest, especially 
if a good speaker can be imported from a distance, and a pop- 
ular lady can be found to distribute the rewards. Still more 
useful are the quasi -social gatherings, which may take many 
forms ; tableaux to illustrate a period of history or work of 
literature ; exhibition of scientific apparatus and experiments, 
or specimens, to follow a course on natural science ; music of 
a special period, or good lime-light views of architecture; 
anything to attract and rouse interest ; always leaving a certain 
portion of time for conversation, having previously secured a 
certain number of students to be ready to undertake the part 
of hosts, and bring people together. 

Conferences between neighboring secretaries and local 
committees are also a valuable mode of promoting a wider 
esprit de corps. I think, also, more might be done in the direc- 



10 THE LOCAL SECRETARY 

tion of exchanging books in a district. The possibilities of 
friendly intercourse are numerous, and a Secretary who has 
once grasped the idea that our work is social as well as intel- 
lectual will find many ways of developing that idea. 

3. The Secretary in Relation to the Students. 

This is perhaps the most important part of a Secretary's 
work, and it is certainly here that the richest rewards are 
found. For the bona fide students are the kernel, the vivifying 
nucleus of every audience, and it should be the constant 
endeavor of the Secretary both to concentrate the energies and 
mutual interest of the students, and to increase their number. 

If it be possible, it is most useful for the Secretary to be 
herself a student ; but it is often hard indeed to find time for 
the necessary reading and writing. Difficulties, however, must 
only be regarded as incentives to exertion, not as obstacles to 
impede our progress. Apart from the great personal gain to 
a busy person, occupied necessarily with many small details, 
of getting into touch with wider thoughts and more enduring 
realities, it will at once put the Secretary into a different rela- 
tion with the students; she is no longer merely "official," she 
is one of their band, interested personally in questions arising 
out of the week's work, personally excited as to the results of 
the examination, able to give 2. personal opinion as to the most 
useful books to study. In all well-established centres a Stu- 
dent's Association becomes a necessity, and of this the Secre- 
tary should certainly be a member. A Secretary's first effort 
must be to make friends with the students. She should strive 
to make them feel they have a legitimate claim on her time ; 
she should encourage them to call on her with any little 
difficulty ; she should lend them books ; without undue intru- 
sion she should make it plain she is interested in their individ- 
ual lives ; she should try to find teaching or work of any kind 
for those that need it ; she should sympathize in any domestic 
joy or sorrow in their circle ; she should never be in a hurry 



THE LOCAL SECRETARY I I 

if they want to ask any questions, or discuss any difficulty ; in 
a word she should try to make them feel she has a genuine 
friendly interest in each one ; and, needless to say, this must 
not be profession merely but should be genuine. And surely 
this is not difficult ; we are often kept apart from one another 
bv artificial barriers which prevent our discovering identity of 
human interests beneath ; in our University Extension work 
we have at once the common interest provided, and we touch 
one another on the best side. It is often matter for surprise 
how touchingly grateful people are for very little ; there are 
few things in life more humbling than to be honestly thanked 
for what it has cost but little to offer; and as Secretaries 
we are but conduits, channels, which help to convey from the 
universities their accumulated treasures, of which we also 
thankfully partake, thankful most of all for the small share we 
have in extending an elevating and ennobling influence, the 
love of knowledge, the love of excellence, the love of " what- 
soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely" ; we are 
after all but "flies on the wheel" ; those to whom thanks are 
due are our teachers ; but still we have a share, if a humble 
one, in their greater work ; for if they supply the intellectual 
part, ours is the no less necessary part of attuning the minds 
of those to whom great ideas are offered, for we must 
try to set the tone of our students, and supply the emotional 
element which is necessary to make intellectual conceptions 
acceptable ; for, as a great thinker has it, "After all that can 
be said about the widening influence of ideas, it remains true 
that they would hardly be such strong agents unless they were 
taken in a solvent of feeling." 



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